Air Travel

Last night I arrived into Cuenca where I will be stationed for three months for school. I say last night because AeroGal, my airlines decided that a three and a half hour delay was acceptable when confronted with moderate rain. I spent most of my time in the airport getting my fill of cribbage and gin. I have to admit I felt I had amnesia because I could not remember for the life of me how to play cribbage until it was far too late. The flight to Cuenca, when it finally did leave, was no longer than my flight from San Antonio to Houston, a light thirty five minute flight over the Andean highlands. I had this misconception that fertile valleys stretch across the entirety between the two parallel mountain ranges, but there is far more geologic formations than that. I overheard while eavesdropping, which I am getting quite good at, that a drive from Quito to Cuenca is more like a twelve hour odessy. So scratch that out as an idea in the future. But from the sky, it was a little more smooth, even though the turbulance was horrendous. From my side of the plane I was able to see the perfect conical shape of Cotopaxi, one of two volcanoes in the world with such perfect shape, the other being Fuji. Supposedly I would be living in the booneys farthest from the school, so there were plenty of jokes pertaining to the distance of my walk that lies ahead of me five days a week. We landed at el aeropuerto de Cuenca, if you can even call it an airport. I think I was expecting more out of the third most important city in Ecuador. I had a lot of misperceptions about this trip. The plane stopped alongside the side of the airport next to the baggage claim. A terminal did not exist. The baggage claim was equally pequeño. As there was only one plane on the ground within hundreds of miles, there was just one baggage claim track that seemed absolutely absurd. Moving along, I met my host family in mi escuela which is a villa in the heart of "downtown" Cuenca. I met my host family in spurts, actually to be more accurate, I met them basically one at a time on their own. Leslie, who is the daughter of Eulalia, my host mother, is a calm genuine Cuencan who I have not figured out precisely her occupation. Her husband, Wellington, has been the most readily accessible family member to talk with because he is learning English in order to become a teacher. He however, has been laid up since he left last night with a hernia in his stomach, but is supposively in better health. My host mother I met late a night when she arrived back home at around nine. She is a teacher of math at a local high school. Today we had our Spanish placement test which I can't place whether it went over well or not, but I am not too worried. I have no vocabulary for verbs I have become quite well aware of. Tonight, because we only have a tour tomorrow and it is the weekend, I am having a night on the town, well sort of. I plan to go and see a movie and perhaps go to a local bar one of the host families recommended. I feel quite at home here. A huge sigh of relief.

Just letting everyone know that I arrived safely in Quito last night, but I am still a little tipsy from exhaustion and the altitude. Upon arriving in the Quito airport, we met with Narcisa who is our coordinator, after a good hour and a half of waiting in the customs lines. Narcisa is a wonderful person who will be fantastic for moral support. I am looking forward to the stay in Cuenca, and there is lots of enthusiasm about the host families and staying in Cuenca. Exploration of the blocks around our hotel is on top of my list. I've been staying with the guys of our trip in a single room of four beds, so I am getting to know them better. My host family is actually the furthest from the classes in the heart of Cuenca, about a thirty minute walk according to Narcisa. The Cordovas, my host family, have adopted a child which was the missing link that I could not understand in their letter. I am very interested in getting to meet and know them more. I will be on my way to Cuenca on Thursday and classes begin the following Monday. Things will start getting much more rapid from here on out. But until then, I think I will embrace the comfort of long sleeps and the company of fellow students. All the best to everyone who continue to enjoy their breaks before the wave of work before them.

For the past two weeks, I have slowly degraded my health with stress and sleep-deprivation. This is important to keep in mind in order to understand my soreness and incapacity to move nor carry my luggage. So, yesterday was the initial day of testing the waters of travel that I will be continuing for over six months. I received a bad omen. Practically sleep walking through the morning, I packed up all my belongings left in my beloved city of Portland in hopes to catch an 8:35am shuttle downtown where I would catch the light rail headed for the airport for my 10:45 flight. Not only did I find out quickly did I have far too much belongings, but I couldn't motivate myself to walk out the door. Unable to pick up all my belongs in order to walk out the door, I ended up missing the bus which began a chain reaction of unplanned events that would obstruct my leaving home. I called for a taxi and received assistance from Tessa to bring everything outside, where it promptly began raining horizontally to reach me under the canopy of Templeton. But after about a twenty minute wait, now approximately 9:10am, I was able to tag along with a new friend. And when I arrived at 9:50am completely relieved that I had arrived, I saw to with my partially burred eyes a line of eternity extending out from the southwest airlines kiosk. I estimated probably 250-300 people lined up in front of me. My heart started racing and my sweat glands started working overdrive as I was wearing four layers and two jackets. At this point, convinced I was going to miss my flight, I sought the words to explain my frustration and worry. But by some miracle, I made it through this particular line and the subsequent baggage line with ten minutes to spare before expected departure. I used the best trick in the book for the security checkpoint that I learned from Sean's uncle, which is using my southwest rapid rewards card to get me into the VIP line. Without that, I think I might still be under the Portland rain. So fortunate me, with the second to last ticket printed out on the entire flight, slipped into the plane just minutes before the doors shut. I was thoroughly exhausted, unable to sleep in the middle seat, I dragged myself out with a dry mouth, stuffy nose, and swollen lymph nodes consequently inhibiting breathing, swallowing, and unfortunately deep sleep. So this morning, after many early awakenings, I would like to claim having nearly recovered my help, but not so nearly my emotions for Ecuador. Everyone whom I will not see for six or more months on my trip will be greatly missed.